The team is on its final leg back home from Australia after completing the Asian Cup, which began before the Middle East conflict.
Published March 18, 2026
The Iranian women’s national soccer team arrived in eastern Turkiye and headed to the Iranian border on their way home, with several players withdrawing their asylum claims to Australia.
The players arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday night on a flight from Oman, then flew to the eastern city of Igdir, arriving just after noon on Wednesday, AFP news agency said.
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They were also seen leaving the airport, wearing Iranian national team jerseys, before heading to Gulburak Bazargan crossing, about 100 kilometers southeast, an AFP correspondent said.
The players left Australia, where they were participating in the Asia Cup, and arrived in Turkiye via Oman and Malaysia.
“I miss my family,” one of them told AFP at Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday.
Seven members of the delegation fled to Australia last week after being branded “traitors” in their home country for refusing to sing the national anthem during the opening match of the Women’s Asian Cup.
However, five of them later changed their minds and only two remained in Australia.
Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, said in a post on X that the players and their support teams are “children of the motherland and the Iranian people welcome them.”
He said that by returning, he had “let down (Iran’s) enemies and did not succumb to deception and intimidation by anti-Iranian elements.”
Human rights groups have accused the Iranian government of pressuring foreign athletes by threatening to confiscate their property if their relatives defect or speak out against Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian authorities have accused Australia of putting pressure on players to stay.
